Author
Topic: What is love? (Read 2574 times)

Love is a supreme commandment and gift. It is from God and is intended for union with Him. It arrives in our hearts from the mind, through reason. As the Cross of the Lord, it has two dimensions, while remaining unique, teaching every individual to become like God, and all together to each other, regarding on Him.

Its sides (human and divine) are developing completely evenly, without any deviation, through the simultaneous transformation of the mind and upbringing of reason. This process of growth and maturation of the undivided love can be clearly observed alongside of five successive stages that could be appointed as: forces, conditions, actions, ranks and honors, through which, guided by love, our soul gets filled and gains its own original meaning and ultimate purpose, achieving expedient beauty and dignified integrity of its being.

If we look closely you will probably notice that the Decalogue itself is divided at two groups consisting of a five God-loving, thoughtful, cognitive and another five philanthropic, acting and reasonable, but, above all, cordial commandments.

Still get stuck on how you separate subjectivity (person-hood) and essence. I prefer to use the word subjectivity instead of person-hood because I find that person-hood can indeed be a little problematic sometimes.

As you may remember, I believe that God is pure subjectivity, that "He is not His essence" so to speak. I say His essence is unknowable because God does not live according to it. But you say that essence is inconceivable, but then it means that knowledge has boundaries, that human knowledge is limited and not infinite in potential (therefore theosis is not really possible).

If we look closely you will probably notice that the Decalogue itself is divided at two groups consisting of a five God-loving, thoughtful, cognitive and another five philanthropic, acting and reasonable, but, above all, cordial commandments.

However, their fulfillment is impossible individually or partially, by emphasizing, or muting some of these, but only in complete collusion and harmony, that are established in the consonance of theanthropic love. This is why Our Lord transformed the soul of a man of the New Testament into far more appropriate and more perfect instrument of His aknowledgement and celebration, and figuratively speaking, of a ten-stringed psaltery, He made a two-stringed gusle (kind of a primitive violine) which made ​​it impossible to perform separate and distinct tones, and thereby, every pious art became consonant to a particular salvific expediency.

"Who wants to be consistent? The dullard and the doctrinaire, the tedious people who carry out their principles to the bitter end of action, to the reductio ad absurdum of practice. Not I."-Oscar Wilde, The Decay of Lying

If we look closely you will probably notice that the Decalogue itself is divided at two groups consisting of a five God-loving, thoughtful, cognitive and another five philanthropic, acting and reasonable, but, above all, cordial commandments.

However, their fulfillment is impossible individually or partially, by emphasizing, or muting some of these, but only in complete collusion and harmony, that are established in the consonance of theanthropic love. This is why Our Lord transformed the soul of a man of the New Testament into far more appropriate and more perfect instrument of His aknowledgement and celebration, and figuratively speaking, of a ten-stringed psaltery, He made a two-stringed gusle (kind of a primitive violine) which made ​​it impossible to perform separate and distinct tones, and thereby, every pious art became consonant to a particular salvific expediency.

By the adoption into our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s love became dual, not only divine, but also human, remaining quintessential, at the same time has become so accessible and participative, without endangering the freedom, has been handed to us by the grace, being initial, also proved to be fateful, synchronizing in the eternity the potential and capacity of all its fruits.

By the adoption into our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s love became dual, not only divine, but also human, remaining quintessential, at the same time has become so accessible and participative, without endangering the freedom, has been handed to us by the grace, being initial, also proved to be fateful, synchronizing in the eternity the potential and capacity of all its fruits.

By its divinity, love has become the occasion for transformation of all desires and lusts, ie, of Eros, in an unstoppable mental force - a wisdom which penetrates to the core and nature of all the events, reaching into a permanently contemplating condition and achieving an unforgettable cognitive activity of the truth about itself and through itself, which is in God, and is God, due to which He reveals to us who we are, to make it easier to fell in love with Him, by the same love with which He loves us, more than Himself!

By the adoption into our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s love became dual, not only divine, but also human, remaining quintessential, at the same time has become so accessible and participative, without endangering the freedom, has been handed to us by the grace, being initial, also proved to be fateful, synchronizing in the eternity the potential and capacity of all its fruits.

By its divinity, love has become the occasion for transformation of all desires and lusts, ie, of Eros, in an unstoppable mental force - a wisdom which penetrates to the core and nature of all the events, reaching into a permanently contemplating condition and achieving an unforgettable cognitive activity of the truth about itself and through itself, which is in God, and is God, due to which He reveals to us who we are, to make it easier to fell in love with Him, by the same love with which He loves us, more than Himself!

On the other hand, the humanity of the commandment of love, arouses our prudence towards steadfastness in the virtues of faith, in order to experience by Him, as the Sweetest one of all, what does really pleases us, and therefore befits, so that to appease ourselves by His grace to become kind and serve each other’s by mercy.

Here's another one from my blog. Doesn't really talk about love itself, but rather how it enters into the soul. Since I don't really know Krotok's motivation I can't say if he is trying to describe how love grows through practice and asceticism, as opposed to what it is in itself. Love in itself is ineffable and transcendent; it is a function of the heart.

Just as the body has five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, the soul also has the same number of five senses: the mind, rationality, understanding feeling, knowing and knowledge. They are gathered in three workings of the soul: the mind, rationality and feeling. Through the mind we receive understandings; through judgment we receive meanings, and through feeling the appearances of knowledge and divine thoughts.+++The one whose mind differentiates well the understandings of the thoughts and assumes divine meditations purely, whose rationality seeks meaning for the natural movements of the whole physical creation, distinguishing the rationalities of creatures, and the spiritual feeling receives the science of heavenly wisdom and knowledge, has gone beyond the senses, passing through the illuminations of The Sun of righteousness beyond feeling. He rejoices in delight with the unseen things.

By the adoption into our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s love became dual, not only divine, but also human, remaining quintessential, at the same time has become so accessible and participative, without endangering the freedom, has been handed to us by the grace, being initial, also proved to be fateful, synchronizing in the eternity the potential and capacity of all its fruits.

By its divinity, love has become the occasion for transformation of all desires and lusts, ie, of Eros, in an unstoppable mental force - a wisdom which penetrates to the core and nature of all the events, reaching into a permanently contemplating condition and achieving an unforgettable cognitive activity of the truth about itself and through itself, which is in God, and is God, due to which He reveals to us who we are, to make it easier to fell in love with Him, by the same love with which He loves us, more than Himself!

On the other hand, the humanity of the commandment of love, arouses our prudence towards steadfastness in the virtues of faith, in order to experience by Him, as the Sweetest one of all, what does really pleases us, and therefore befits, so that to appease ourselves by His grace to become kind and serve each other’s by mercy.

And just as each and every thing that is being bestowed is actually a fruit, and really can be given only what you naturally have, so it is same with the gift of love in the Orthodox Church, because She herself, as the Theanthropic, ie, as a heaven-earthly offspring of love, is the only seed (of truth) and food (of eternal life) that we as Christians in fact have.

It is the Church of God that is the only fruit by which love is truly recognizable and the living icon of its kind, through which it acts quite inherently and properly to its unique Wellspring, ie, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which credibly convinces us of itself and reconciliates us with enthusiasm of consecration for joining in a community of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Church of God that is the only fruit by which love is truly recognizable and the living icon of its kind, through which it acts quite inherently and properly to its unique Wellspring, ie, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which credibly convinces us of itself and reconciliates us with enthusiasm of consecration for joining in a community of the Holy Spirit.

Consequently, love organically constitutes the Church, and therefor, if we are on any level separated from Her, we are missing exactly the one (love), which is the main motive of piety, without which the spiritual life becomes illusive external world to our soul, decomposing into countless existential meanderings, confusingly marked with futile and deleterious spiritual rules, as the guidelines and landmarks of our moral decadence.

It is the Church of God that is the only fruit by which love is truly recognizable and the living icon of its kind, through which it acts quite inherently and properly to its unique Wellspring, ie, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which credibly convinces us of itself and reconciliates us with enthusiasm of consecration for joining in a community of the Holy Spirit.

Consequently, love organically constitutes the Church, and therefor, if we are on any level separated from Her, we are missing exactly the one (love), which is the main motive of piety, without which the spiritual life becomes illusive external world to our soul, decomposing into countless existential meanderings, confusingly marked with futile and deleterious spiritual rules, as the guidelines and landmarks of our moral decadence.

The spiritual growth and improvement are not an end unto itself, but are taking place independently of all the rules, in God's providence that is unobtrusively realized through His grace which acts within the Orthodox Church of Christ. All of her children, by the thoroughness of sanctification of their reasonable sentiments, naturally and in accordance with love, are gaining, achieving and manifesting spiritual gifts and the greatest degrees of Christian perfections that She fully possesses.

Our individuality and uniqueness is personified in the Lord Jesus Christ, by the act of its adjustments to the essence of our foundation, expressed through Him as the Word of God, which is nothing else but God’s love for mankind. Therefore, love is the only source, grace – an actuator, and the Orthodox Church – aim of true spirituality.

Our individuality and uniqueness is personified in the Lord Jesus Christ, by the act of its adjustments to the essence of our foundation, expressed through Him as the Word of God, which is nothing else but God’s love for mankind. Therefore, love is the only source, grace – an actuator, and the Orthodox Church – aim of true spirituality.

Whole sub-celestial world opposes the Orthodox Church, for no other reason than the pledge of love that She keeps and carries throughout the vicious time of human history. None of the other so called church, religion or religious organization does not have neither a glimmer of glare on that pledge of God's love which exudes out from living tradition of truth and salvation of our Maternal Orthodox Church.

Love is a supreme commandment and gift. It is from God and is intended for union with Him. It arrives in our hearts from the mind, through reason. As the Cross of the Lord, it has two dimensions, while remaining unique, teaching every individual to become like God, and all together to each other, regarding on Him.

Its sides (human and divine) are developing completely evenly, without any deviation, through the simultaneous transformation of the mind and upbringing of reason. This process of growth and maturation of the undivided love can be clearly observed alongside of five successive stages that could be appointed as: forces, conditions, actions, ranks and honors, through which, guided by love, our soul gets filled and gains its own original meaning and ultimate purpose, achieving expedient beauty and dignified integrity of its being.

The Orthodox Tradition of the notion of human existence is most concisely expressed in the liturgical call to “commit ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God”, which clearly shows to every Orthodox Christian that he posses in oneself his own authentically subsistent, unquenchable and indestructible natural existence, that, if he wants for oneself and for his loved ones, to get enriched by the presence and the attributes of the divine being, following the example the Most Holy Theotokos, he may hand it over to Christ our God.